pH Threshold: More Useful than Lactate
Lets's imagine we have a race or time trial coming up. Maybe it's an 8K run, maybe it's 20K on the bike. But we expect the time trial to last 26-28 minutes. Now, what will be the physiological governors of our performance? We could create a long, long list or flow chart of factors that govern exercise performance. But in the simplest sense, it comes down to the maximum sustainable power (work/time) that an athlete can generate for the given race duration. The more power, the faster the time trial (less time) and vice versa. So, what governs maximum sustainable power? Here again, a number of factors (VO2max, substrate availability, economy, a central governor?). Assuming these factors are consistent, what about lactate threshold? For years coaches and physiologists have been proclaiming lactate threshold to be the maximum sustainable pace or power for race distances of ~60:00. Assuming above this threshold, lactate accumulates exponentially and associated